Like ‘Water for Elephants’
I finished reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen recently (and started reading Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan).

Gruen’s Elephants had intrigued me from the day it was released. It’s cover and title were fun and appealing. It took about a year before I actually got the book and read it. Ironically, I read this historical fiction circus tale right after finishing Tracy Chevalier’s historical fiction Burning Bright that happened to have a circus in it, without knowing they shared this theme.
The book is told from the point of view of an eldery man in a nursing home, remembering his younger days traveling with the circus as a vet. Gruen wove a perfect blend of thoroughly researched history (pictures included!), easy-to-like protagonists, easy-to-hate antagonists, engaging plotlines, and just the right dose of animal abuse realities without being disturbing or upsetting.

November 20th, 2008 at 10:33 am
[...] 2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen … Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Read more about these two) [...]